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Remembering Senator Edward Kennedy

The Women's Refugee Commission is saddened to learn of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy.

“Over the course of his career, Senator Kennedy was a steadfast champion for the rights of the world’s least fortunate, including refugees from Vietnam to Iraq and asylum-seekers making a new life in the U.S.,” said  Carolyn Makinson, executive director of the Women's Refugee Commission.

He authored the Refugee Act of 1980 and for many years led efforts to address the needs of millions of refugees fleeing violence in many parts of the world.  Most recently, Senator Kennedy was the lead sponsor of legislation to assist Iraqi refugees.

Senator Kennedy was also deeply committed to protecting the rights of immigrants and to ensuring that our immigration laws treat all people with dignity and fairness regardless of their citizenship. He believed that immigration policy should not separate immigrants from their US citizen families without due process and in recent years sponsored legislation to reduce the impact of immigration raids on communities and families. Senator Kennedy was co-sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which permitted victims of domestic violence to apply for lawful permanent residence status without the cooperation of their abusive relative, was instrumental in securing passage of crucial legislation to protect unaccompanied alien children and was a longtime champion of comprehensive immigration reform. He also worked to improve conditions of immigration detention and secure protections for asylum seekers.

“While we are deeply saddened that Senator Kennedy did not live to see the culmination of his efforts to reform our immigration system,” said Makinson, “the Women's Refugee Commission will continue to advance his agenda of promoting dignity, fairness and permanency for vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers around the world.”